Minutes from Parish Council Meeting held on 25 May 2017

Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 25 May 2017 at 7.30 pm

Present: – Cllrs Lee (Vice Chair), Bailey, Chew and Gallagher, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes. Cllr Smith (new Chair) arrived shortly after the start of the meeting and this meeting was therefore chaired by the Vice Chair.
1. Apologies – None

2. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising

The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 20 April, having been previously circulated, were agreed as a true and correct record and duly signed by the Vice-Chair.

Matters arising

Cllr Chew had again asked for a meeting with the Chief Planning Officer at Fylde BC in connection with the proposed by-pass. This has been agreed but no date fixed as yet.

The Clerk had reported the damaged and missing bollards at the end of Pool Foot Lane to Lancashire County Council, but nothing has happened as yet. The Clerk will contact County Councillor Paul Hayhurst to ask for his help in pursuing this.

The Noticeboard at the Village Hall had been repaired and it was agreed a good job had been done. Two sets of keys were handed out – one to the Clerk and one to Cllr Smith as Chair.

3. Open Forum – None

4. Declaration of Interests – None

5. Planning Matters and Decisions

• 17/0360 – Hightide, Old Mains Lane, Singleton, FY6 7LA – External Alterations to Dwelling, including insertion of 3 windows and 2 sets of bi-fold doors to the North Elevation. No Specific Observations and to leave to the planning officers to decide.
• 17/0401 – Richard Dumbreck Trust Singleton Estate – Change of use of agricultural land to form Peace Garden with seating, paths, planting and fencing around. The Parish Council supports the proposal but would like to see some sort of memorial to the dead from the First and Second World Wars who gave their lives for peace of the land.
• 17/0382 – Angel Lane Caravan Park, Field 7126, Fairfield Road, Staining. Certificate of Lawfulness for existing use for siting of a mobile home used for residential accommodation. This Parish Council has objected vociferously since the first caravan was put on the site and does not feel the applicant meets the criterion required for a Certificate of Lawful Use for an Existing Development.
• 17/0273 – Singleton Hall, FY6 8LU – Clarification requested on Parish Council’s response to this application for a wheelchair access ramp. The Parish Council does not object to the application in principal, but feels that the residents’ views should be taken into consideration when coming to a determination.

Community Message sent from PS Andy Hill on behalf of Mark Morley, Temporary Chief Inspector, Fylde and Wyre, following on from the tragic events in Manchester. Any suspicious terrorist activity should be reported to the Police on the Anti-Terrorist Hotline 0800789321. The Clerk will circulate this email.

100 New Police Cadets will be recruited across Lancashire and Lancashire Police are also looking to recruit cadet leaders to support the expansion of its new junior police cadets programme for those aged 10-13 years old.

7. Traffic and Highway Issues

Nothing to report.

8. Proposed New By-Pass

Again, nothing to report apart from Cllr Chew has requested a meeting with the Chief Planning Officer at Fylde BC about this.

9. Correspondence

• Thank you note from Singleton Gala for the Parish Council’s contribution towards their funds. The Gala will take place on 18 June and all councillors are welcome to join in the procession.
• Notification that the next District Parish Liaison meeting date has been changed to 28 June at 6.30 pm at the Town Hall, St. Annes. Noted.
• Information received from Wyre BC that its Local Plan for the period 2011 to 2031 will be submitted for a six week public consultation period following its Council meeting in September 2017.

10.
Decision on SPID

The Clerk reported that Weeton Parish Council has not yet come to a decision regarding the jointly owned SPID and was having a problem with Lancashire Highways as to where to mount it. They are also asking for a 20mph speed limit.

After more discussion Cllr Chew proposed that the Parish Council purchases a new Superspid which will be much more efficient than the aging current model. This was seconded by Cllr Gallagher and Agreed. Cllr Lee will look into the models available and advise.

11.
New Playground equipment and play area.

Good comments received about the newly laid artificial grass in the play area, and the area was much improved. Cllr Chew is looking into applying for a grant towards new equipment and the work on this is on-going.

12.
Litter-picking update

Cllr Gallagher had met with Andy Taylor and had agreed the route and areas with him. There is just the question of his Public Liability insurance to sort out but hopefully he will be starting soon. This would be a joint venture between the Parish Council and Singleton Trust but Cllr Chew emphasised the importance of having two separate invoices to pay for this work in line with proper procedure.

13. Accounts and Invoices to Pay

This year’s accounts had again been audited by Mr Ray Cottam who had submitted a report finding all records of receipts and payments to be correct. One minor item whereby the price of a security lock had not been added to the Minutes on 25 August 2016, and the Clerk will amend this. Clarification was given to Mr Cottam on the amount paid in the grass-cutting contract whereby items had been added to the annual charge, such as weed-killing at the car park. The Bank Reconciliations had been agreed and the amount of £28,096.12 had been carried forward to 2017/18.

The Official Audit Form was then discussed and the Annual Governance Statement agreed, as well as all the accounting statement on Section 2. These were duly signed by the Clerk and the Vice-Chairman. The Internal Audit report prepared by Mr. Cottam was duly noted. The Parish Council’s thanks were expressed to Mr. Cottam for his work in this regard. The accounts will now be made available for members of the public to view and information regarding this, as well as the annual Statement of Accounts, would be put on the noticeboards and the website.

• Cllr Chew would like the Parish Council to adopt a policy to cover awarding grants. This was agreed and she would look into getting a model policy for the Parish Council to view.
• Alarm expressed at 5 cars parking overnight in the car park every night in recent weeks. This does not comply with the Parish Council’s insurance or lease agreement on the car park. A notice would be put on the cars to ask them not to park overnight on the car park.
• Complaints received about the poor mobile phone signal in Singleton and also the Broadband is still not up to speed. The Clerk will ask for County Councillor Paul Hayhurst to enlist the help of the appropriate person at LCC who is championing broadband in the county.
• Finally, Cllr Smith wanted to express his thanks to Cllr Gallagher for his sterling work during 2016/17 and this was unanimously agreed.

15 Date and Time of next meeting

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 29 June at 7.15 at the Village Hall.